Tennis stuff

The weather has improved. It's cooler and less humid today and thus much more pleasant. We had eight of the codger crew at tennis this morning at our usual meeting place. We had enough time to play about a set of tennis before light rain started to fall. Rain makes for slippery courts and a chance for injury, so we curtailed the activity and quit playing. It was okay by me, because I seem to be in a mild slump. It doesn't seem like I'm playing much worse, but my results have generally gone south. It partly has to do with the quality of the opposition, but I'd rather be winning more of the games that seem to be slipping away. So I'm taking a few days off from tennis ball thumping and hoping that rejuvenates the quality of my play.

It was a good day for other USA tennis players, especially those named Williams. Serena won her gold medal match over Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1.  Maria reportedly only got in about half a dozen of her patented shrieks during the match. Then Serena paired with Venus to win their semifinal doubles match over a Russian team to assure themselves of a medal in doubles. And the Bryan twins (Bob and Mike) won the men's doubles gold over the French pair (one was Tsonga) in straight sets. A pretty good tournament for USA tennis, a group which has been in eclipse the last few years.

I'm pulling for both of the men in the men's final, Federer and Murray, but I think it would be really nice if Murray won a tournament at Wimbledon, him being so British and all, and the Olympics being in London and other areas of the kingdom. I'm hoping that the queen (Lizzy) shows up to bolster the spirits of the best British tennis player of his generation.  It'll probably be a pretty good show.

Incidentally, today's photo has nothing to do with tennis, but it's a recent photo that I sorta like.

I have heard from the Prairie Princess.  She has landed at her home for the next few months - Sokoine University - in Tanzania in the mountains outside of Dar Es Salaam.  She has some internet connections and probably will be doing some blogging again soon.  I'm anxious to see the photos.